Bicycle Crunch

1. Lie on your back with your hands lightly touching the sides of your head and your legs lifted, knees bent to 90 degrees.
2. Press your lower back gently toward the floor and lift your shoulder blades slightly off the ground.
3. Exhale and rotate your torso, driving your right elbow toward your left knee while extending the right leg out straight.
4. Keep the extended leg hovering above the floor, not resting on it.
5. Inhale briefly, then switch sides in one smooth motion, left elbow toward right knee.
6. Rotate from the ribcage, letting the shoulder travel toward the knee rather than just the elbow.
7. Continue alternating at a controlled tempo, one exhale per rotation.

Common Mistakes

• Pulling on the neck: yanking the head forward with the hands strains the neck and does nothing for the abs; the hands only touch, never pull.
• Racing through reps: fast flailing turns the exercise into hip swinging; slow rotations with a full exhale work the obliques far harder.
• Elbow chasing the knee: moving only the arm across fakes the rotation; the shoulder and ribcage must turn toward the opposite knee.
• Lower back arching: letting the back lift off the floor as the leg extends loads the spine; shorten the leg extension until your core can hold the position.